Tubaxist
by Nikota
Summary: A saxophone playing saxophonist? What should she call her self?...A Tubaxist! Robin is asked to play the sousaphone for the marching year but it is only the begining. Drama soon follows and her senior year is in an upheaval as Robin must get through year.
1. Tuba!

Chapter 1-Tuba?!

Robin waked into her band director's office. There was sheet music everywhere because the room was being remodeled to fit it all. The band room had a special room for the music but because previous band members had broken the drawers Mrs. Arthur had moved it all to her office.

Robin sat down on one of the couches. It was the last week of school and Robin had gotten out of pre-calculus because they were not doing anything because they had taken finals the week before. This day was to finish up anything they needed to with their teachers. They would get the next day off and Friday would be graduation. Mrs. Arthur was talking to one of the students about how they were going to either get a person to play the tuba or have someone cover its part.

Robin didn't have to worry; she played tenor saxophone so she wouldn't be expected to. They continued the discussion as Robin sat there thinking. She knew someone who had played the tuba before she had moved to Stewart County but she couldn't be convinced to play…Robin had tried.

Robin picked up one of the instrument catalogues off of the couch. She needed to get a tenor for college soon but she knew she wasn't going to get a new one like out of the book. She didn't actually own a tenor but played one of the schools. She had played at first alto saxophone but her freshmen year they needed a tenor for concert so she tried it and decided she liked it.

She played it for concert her sophomore year as well. That was when the band had received a shock. Their band director left them that year and they were expected to march for the chemistry teacher.

The chemistry teacher just happened to have been waiting for the chance because she had a degree in music but they were worried because she hadn't marched since high school.

No one amazingly quit but they sure put up the bluff to leave if she did. It didn't work. She was having another kid and wanted to spend time with her son. She left and they got Mrs. Arthur.

It wasn't that bad of a deal Robin thought flipping through the brass instruments. That reminded her, she had been practicing the trumpet for something to do at home and could finally play her B flat scale. That wasn't to bad she thought cause she was a woodwind and a low wind at that.

She looked up at Mrs. Arthur and said, "Oh, Mrs. Arthur, I wanted to tell you that I can finally play the Bb scale on Justin's trumpet."

Justin was her friend who had quit band and had leant her his trumpet to practice.

Mrs. Saunders started to look at her kind of funny and Robin knew exactly what Mrs. Arthur was going to say but before she could say "NO!" Mrs. Arthur was already saying, "Go get the tuba."

Robin couldn't say no to a direct order…ok, she did any how but she didn't mean it and it didn't do any good. She knew she would have to go and see if she could play it. She would never have considered even picking it up if she didn't already know how bad the band need a tubbiest.

Robin sighed in defeat after she begged and pleaded but Mrs. Arthur was asking nicely and saying please. It never occurred to Robin to pretend she sucked, that was against her nature.

She liked being good at things, especially music; so she grabbed the tuner, a beginner tuba book, and of course the sousaphone and headed towards a practice room. The first note she tried was her tuning note and she hit it…Great. She then used the tuner to work up and down the scale.

She could hit more notes than she could on the trumpet. She probably wouldn't be that b ad with practice. Oh God, with practice would mean she would have to march it.

This was how she had ended up marching tenor, the band had needed one so she had offered. She was a strong player and could play loud enough to be heard over the band. She was in trouble. She couldn't lie to Mrs. Arthur but she knew how strenuous it was to march it. The guy who had played it this year was needed on trumpet. He had been asked to play tuba even though he was first trumpet. He had been nice enough to do it but their new show was different. It was a Latin show and it had a hard core trumpet piece. Robin knew she would have to march the sousaphone. She wasn't going down easily though.

She put it up then walked into Mrs. Arthur's office again. She looked up hopeful, Robin sighed, looked her in the eyes and said…"Do I really have to?"


	2. Band Camp

Tubaxis-Chapter 2-Band Camp

Robin was dropped off at the high school with her sister Megan. Robin had to pull the tuba case out of the back of the truck along with her suit case. Her hair kept getting in her face because she had left it down to blow in the wind on the way there. While it felt good at the time it now felt like a mess and kept getting in her mouth.

Robin liked her hair usually. She had it cut in May, just before the senior's graduation. Then, over the summer she had put some awesome red highlights in her hair. They had now turned an interesting orange to light brown color. Robin's naturally hair color was a dark, rich brown. Robin just continued to spit her hair out as she unloaded her stuff.

She gave her suitcase a last big pull but it came loose before Robin had expected and put her off balance. She started leaning too far backward, crap! She was going to fall. A warm hand was suddenly pushing on her back and Robin could feel her weight shift forward. She knew when she could stand up right again as her equilibrium returned. She turned to see who saved her and felt her stomach flip.

It was Dean. Dean was the guy who had played tuba last year. Dean was the guy who Robin had like since the middle of her sophomore year. It was Robin's senior year and she could only pray she could make it through.

Dean probably had suspected by now that Robin liked him but there was no way he could know for sure; Robin had been to careful. Robin would barely give him the time of day now, he was dating one of her friends. She refused to hurt Arine like that. Robin knew for a fact that Arine loved Dean, she had told Robin herself. That had almost killed her but she had already suspected. Robin decided then and there to ignore him for the rest of the year. If she could make it that far she would be home free; well, Georgia free anyways.

She planed on going to school there. Robin had family problems and because she couldn't do anything about them she had decided to help her brothers and sisters by getting an education and to do that she couldn't have any distractions hence the different state.

Robin gave Dean another look to make sure she wouldn't back into him then gently pulled her suit case off then the tuba. Dean grabbed the tuba and Robin grabbed her suit case and they headed inside.

There were suit cases, pillows, sleeping bags, and a couple of instrument cases that still had not been put on the truck lying everywhere. Robin weaved her way through the maze, then spying Maria, her best friend, she ran over and hugged her as tight as she could. They had just seen each other the day before and every week day for six weeks but Robin knew she wouldn't get many more chances to do so.

Maria was still a junior so Robin would have to leave her after the year. Maria and Robin had taken extra classes for six weeks during the summer. They then took a trip to Atlanta Georgia making them miss pre-band camp which was fine with Robin. It was one week less she had to march/ play the tuba.

Robin could play the music but had trouble with the tempo…and she didn't have her music memorized. It wasn't her fault, she had only a few short weeks before she had started summer classes and part of that had been spent learning to play the tuba and learning to read bass clef and the other half moving.

Robin and her family had spent eight months in a basement of a friends as the state had built her a new house. They had knocked down her old house because it was bad enough to be condemned and her mother and father did not bring in a pay check. Her brother, who got a disability check every month, supported her family of six. It ridiculous but Robin did what she could with what she had.

So Robin didn't have her music memorized, but so what? The music seemed easy enough and that was what band camp was for anyhow. Robin stood around until they were called to their seats.

She could only recognize three fourths of the band. There was a lot of new freshmen and a couple eighth graders, this should be interesting year.

Eventually Courtney, the field commander for now going on three years called seniors to the bus. Robin jumped up, grabbed her purse and pillow and ran. You had to, to get a good seat and the seniors only got a couple of seconds head start for as soon as they were all out of the room juniors would be called and would follow right behind them.

The color guard always seemed to get the back but Robin got the third seat from the back, not too bad. There were a couple of seniors before her and as she looked around could tell they had all made it back this year…all five of them. The band was extremely small compared to some bands but they were proud to say they had finally reached 50. That was better than 20. Robin believed they had been that small years ago.

As Robin sat there the seats filled in around her. Maria was up front with Hillie so Robin decided to let Shelby sit beside her. Shelby had also attended the same six week program and had been Robin's dorm mate.

Courtney started calling roll and as she called Robin's name all she could think about was, "why was she here again?" and that's what she said. It got a couple of laughs but Courtney had to continue to call names. It was very hot and Robin was used to being in air conditioned class rooms. So the bus started and Josh said a prayer and they were off.

When they arrived at band camp they had plenty of time to unpack before dinner but after dinner they would be on the field. The girls got off of the bus grabbed their stuff then realized they had a problem.

None of the dorms around them had their school's name on it. There were florescent sheets of paper on the doors with the schools' names to show people where to go. It changed every year as some bands came and went and some bands got bigger or smaller depending upon the freshmen like theirs. If none of the dorms around them had a sign it was bad news.

It meant they had to stay in the dorms in the gym. Great, it was Robin's senior year and she was going to have to walk back and forth from the gym which was way up on a hill behind the cafeteria. The band had thought they were lucky getting a field right in front of the dorms. Well, the guys were but the girls had the misfortune to have too many girls for the counselors to watch.

As they arrived in the gym they walked up a set of wooden stairs on the left. The whole dorm section was wood. They soon found out there were only two dorms, the beds were very close together and there was only one or two extra bunks left.

Robin grabbed the bunk next to the door because it was one of the only ones left. As she unpacked and made her bed she found out she was in luck, her bed was right next to the only air-conditioning vent and the fan blew right at the foot of the bed.

After chilling for a little while Robin decided to see who was hanging out at the pavilion. The pavilion would be open tomorrow selling snacks during free time and before curfew. Robin walked down the hill shading her eyes from the sun. The pavilion had a few people at every table but wasn't packed like it would be tomorrow night.

Robin stepped onto the pavilion and walked over to a table where Maria and Shelby were sitting. Robin could see Dean sitting with Arine on the far side but ignored them and sat down.

Maria and Shelby were playing cards so as Robin sat down they dolt her a hand. They were playing five card poker which was a favorite of the band. They sometimes played strip poker but the person who runs out of non-essential clothing is the looser. There generally was never any real striping. That didn't matter in the least because she had seen just about everyone down to their underwear.

The guys had no problem with trying on their uniforms right in front of her. Robin was the uniform manager so it al seemed part of her job.

As Robin went to lay down a pair of nines she actually started to pay attention to Shelby and Maria's conversation.

Shelby was just saying ,"Yah, he's supposed to arrive while were at dinner.

Maria laid down a full house saying," Will he be on the field with us after dinner?" Shelby folded, Maria had obviously won the hand. While Shelby took up the cards she shrugged saying, "I don't' know, I think he has to eat first. I hope he doesn't' miss the first sets; I don't want to run into him while he tries to find his spot."

This meant the guy was a percussionist because Shelby played second bass. Maria played tenor saxophone. Robin had played with her last year and they had made a dynamic duo or more like a dynamic duet.

As Shelby put the box in her pocket they all stood up to head over to the cafeteria door. They would have to wait for their instruments but there were benches to sit on and that was what they were aiming for.

As they sat down Robin looked to Shelby asking," So who is the new guy?"

"Some new guy on snare. Guess he moved here in the summer, he was at one of the practices from what I hear so he got the music. I guess his parents worked it out with Mrs. Arthur so they could drive him here. He'll be playing snare with Lyndsey."

Lyndsey was their snare extraordinaire. She had somehow switched from flute to percussion and become the percussion instructor's protégé/ girlfriend overnight.

That was the way it seemed to Robin cause she wasn't there this summer to catch everything.

Everyone was at the door now and the instructors were coming, they would get to eat soon. Robin stood up with Maria and Shelby to walk in. They would have to squeeze in with the group so they weren't the last ones to eat and the last to find chairs. They went through the isle forgetting about the new percussionist for their food.

He was just another new person amongst the many freshman so he really wasn't that interesting.

For some reason it was more interesting to discuss their constant breakup/ makeup couple Richie and Nicole. They were together again for the fifth time since they had started dating. The band had figured out that there was usually something wrong when they weren't fighting rather than the other way around. They also tended to draw people into their fights. Robin saw Richie more but she refused to take sides. She had comforted both.

Shelby and Maria were making bets on how long they would last. Robin sat there praying they would last until the end of band camp. They usually lasted a couple of months but she didn't' know when they got back together.

Band Camp was stressful enough but some drama inevitable happened. It was usually because of the stress cause it was totally over by the time they got home.

That was where Robin wished she was, home. She knew it was early to be wishing that but she hadn't spent a full week at home since the first week of June. Now it was the last week of July and she was tiered of other peoples drama.

Robin finished her drink, stood up, pushed her chair in and went to turn.

Smack! Her face came in contact with a blue shit covered chest. Robin was only 5'4 but the guy she ran into had to be 6'4 because she stepped back her head had to come back to look him in the eye. He was frowning but it looked like a permanent fixture on his face. He had a short dirty blond hair.

It was in a cut that army guys generally wear. Robin looked him in the eye to apologize and was surprised. His eyes were green. That was odd. She would have expected blue or brown. Blond hair and green eyes were rair. She had hazel eyes htat some times turned green but nothing like this. His eyes almost seemed cat like.

Robin sort of blushed for staring, said, "Sorry" walked around him and tried not to run for the and door. This was an interesting first day.

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In case anyone wants to know, I met a guy who looks exactly like the new guy in this chapter after I wrote the chapter so you can imagine how freaked out I was to realize this.


	3. Difficulties with the Tuba

Chapter 3- Difficulties with the tuba

Robin walked to the field, the one between the majority of dorms. It was also the closest to the cafeteria.

Robin kept her eyes towards the grounds to avoid grabbing anyone's attention. She didn't wan tot explain why her face was beet red. As she neared the field she headed toward the band truck. It was actually a small U-Haul with their logo and the names of those who had made donations for the truck to be bought and painted.

Robin stepped up in it. The tuba was being kept in here with the percussion equipment because there was no room for her to put it in the dorm. She would have to soon wok something out with Mr. Arthur though cause she would need the extra practice and they were not aloud to practice outside if it wasn't during their practice or rehearsal time. It was band camp and they weren't aloud to play…go figure.

Robin put the tuba together, turned, then realized she had a problem. It was going to be difficult to get down with the tuba. The truck was a couple of feet off of the ground and Robin could not even hold the tuba straight up while in the truck. How was she going to get down.

She could wait for everyone else but she was probably a good fifteen minuets early so it might be a while before someone would come along. That was when Dean came along. There was no way she was going to ask him for help. She had decided to ignore him and that was she was going to do. But what other option did she have?

Sit around until someone else came she guessed but Dean was headed right for her. Well, not for her but where everyone would meet before taking the field.

Robin was just about to sit down which is really a chore with the tuba when army guy from earlier appeared out of nowhere.

Actually nowhere does not constitute the side of the truck but because Robin was not looking that way and he was suddenly in front of her when she looked up from kneeling, it sure seemed as if he had "poofed" there.

He just took one look at her, then grabbed the tuba. She didn't even have to ask. He then stood there and waited for her to take it.

Darn him, why couldn't someone else have come along? Someone other than Dean who was coming up quick from behind Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. Robin jumped out of the truck and grabbed the tuba.

Her pride hurt a little because she couldn't do it on her own but decided to suck it jup and go and sit under the tree in the shade.

As she knelt and sort of squatted on the ground she saw the percussionist climb up into the truck to grab one of the snares, assemble it, then put it aside. He did this to for the other snare, four bases, and the set of tenors. He then grabbed the two snares and started heading for the door. He handed them down to Dean to set down. Robin quickly laid the tuba down on the grass then ran to help.

As she reached the door, Army Guy was handing down one of the bases to Dean. Robin grabbed the next in line then laid it next to the other base. They continued tis until the guy eventually handed the tenors to Dean.

Robin waited until the Army looking guy had jumped down to ask, "So what is your name?" The guy looked at her with his chilly green eyes and replied, "Brandon." He then walked over to the percussion equipment and pulled out a metal object that Robin remembered was used to tune the drums. She watched as he either tightened or loosened according to whether the drum was too high or low.

This reminded Robin of how she carried a tuner in her purse or pocket during band camp. If she was inside with the air conditioning she would go flat and outside in the heat she would be sharp.

Robin noticed Brandon's arms after a sec. They were huge! Weight lifting huge. He truly was built like a guy in ROTC, so why was he playing percussion? Not that she was complaining, he was made for eye candy but she ahd to wonder because most people by the time they make it to high school band are nerds, geeks, or dorks. Most of them could be found on a computer during the weekends not on the track as he seemed to be fond of.

Robin noticed he could probably feel her staring and decided to walk back to her drum. She sat down and lifted the tuba over her and began the B-flat scale. As she looked up at the end she could tell he was the one staring now.

She wanted to shout at him, "Yes, I'm actually going to play this beast, and I'm going to like it to." Instead she just looked away and started the F concert and decided that he could just screw himself because she was determined to make it through band camp. What she didn't see was Brandon's eyes lighten up and a smirk lift the corner of his mouth.


	4. The Field

Chapter 14- The Field

Robin stepped on the field as her low brass instructor, the returning student Jeffery, called her field number. At band camp, on the field, they did not have names, they had numbers. Her number this year was 29 and last years was 31.

Robin planted her feat where Jeffery removed his from. There was a dent in the grass exactly where his feat had been. Jeffery was the tubbiest before he graduated. He made Robin paranoid of messing up in case he thought there was something wrong with her or she was too weak. She had spent enough of her time learning the stupid thing that she didn't want to give up now.

Robin reached into her pocket and pulled out a white poker chip and placed it right between her toes. She had come to band camp so many times that she knew what color would be used first since she was marked off they shouldn't have to move her again so she figured it would be ok to place her poker chip early.

They used the poker chips to find their sets, then to see if they could make them on the right amount of counts. This worked great until it started getting dark outside. Then they might as well just do run-throughs of what they had already done because they couldn't set while people were climbing on their hands and knees to find their poker chips. And that would not be easy with the tuba for sure.

After the first set was done Robin listened for her number again. Then again and again until she had used her other red, whit, and blue chips. They ran the sets over and over again then went back to opening set. Now was the time ot pick up their chips to make other sets. Uh oh… this was going to be a little difficult.

Robin leaned over but the tuba came with her sliding toward the ground. Robin held on to it and brought it up with her to stand. That wasn't going to work. She decided to do it like when she sat down. Sort of squat then kneel but not actually sit down. Crap they were going to have to move soon. Robin quickly did the awkward move, grabbed the chip and scrambled back up. She could hear Dean snickering from about two yard lines away meaning she was supposed to hear it. He had always made someone else get the chips for him when he played tuba.

Robin wasn't that cruel. Actually she just wanted to probe that she could do it on her own. As she turned to go to her seconded set she flipped Dean off but noticed Brandon had a smirk on his face. What was so funny? She knew she must have looked odd tryng to get that damn poker chip but what did they expect? Brandon probably got the best view though because he was next to the same yard line as she was just about 16 feet back.

They headed to their next set at a march. Robin decided to get some help this time. She looked over at Short-Stuff. Short-Stuff's actual name was Christian but she barely topped 4'9 and had the attitude to go with that of a person of 5'9.

Robin just shouted, "Hey Short Stuff, can I get some help?"

Short Stuff ran over immediately and picked it up for her. Dean must have been watching because he then yelled out, "Hey, you wouldn't help me with mine when I played tuba; why are you helping Robin?" Dean had made kind hearted Maria get them for him. Short Stuff snorted and replied, "Because Robin needed the help. You asked me because you were lazy."

That did sound a little like Dean. He probably had asked Short Stuff knowing he would have trouble and used it to his advantage probably not even trying for a poker chip first. Robin wondered if this disappointed Brandon. He wasn't saying anything and Robin wasn't about to look behind her to find out.

She wasn't even sure exactly where on the field they were any more. At least he hadn't cracked up laughing like Dean. Everyone else seemed to ignore what was going on. They completed about seven sets. That wasn't bad considering the freshmen kept forgetting they no longer had names and that the ground was not going to disappear out from under them taking their chips with it.

They were soon set free. Well it hadn't been soon, it had been two hours but it would seem short compared to tomorrow. The pool wasn't opened yet and she didn't have any money on her so Robin decided to head back to the dorms; all the way up the long blasted hill.

She slid her glasses off her head onto her nose. She generally didn't need them on the field because of the tuba bell but they came in handy when the sun was in her face like now. The glasses were the reason she didn't see Maria come up beside her. She was just there suddenly. Hmm… that seemed to be happening a lot lately.

That was the reason she didn't like wearing them on the field, it decreased her peripheral vision by about 90 percent since the plastic got in the way. Robin didn't not grab a hold of Maria's arm like she usually did when walking with her. It was too hot.

She could tell Maria wanted to talk about something but obviously it was going to wait for when they reached the top of the hill and had caught their breaths. As they reached the gym with the slightly cooler room Maria turned to Robin and asked, "Do you like Brandon?"

Wow, that was unexpected. She didn't really like him because she didn't really know him but she knew if she said no and Maria did and she happened to like him later she could be in big trouble. Robin could see herself liking him in the future so she decided to play it safe.

If they both liked him they would probably agree to both not date him unless the other's feelings changed for the extreme or the non-existence. So Robin just said, "Yes", just as she realized Dean was walking in. What had he heard?


	5. The Drama Begins

**Chapter 5- The Drama begins**

**Afraid that Dean would ask what they were talking about, Robin grabbed Maria and ran up the stairs. When they reached the top and were through the doors Maria grabbed Robin and said, "Really?!"**

**The look on Maria's face told Robin she was in trouble. Maria hadn't asked Robin if she liked Brandon because she liked him she had something else on her mind. **

**Before Robin could say anything Maria just shouted "Yes!", let go of Robin, then ran through the door of her dorm. Robin was sleeping in the dorm down the hall. The fan and air-conditioning was worth dorming in a different room than Maria and Shelly. They needed some time apart anyways.**

**As Robin walked into the dorm she could hear all the girls talking. Band camp is the time of bonding for the band. They ate together, slept together, dressed together, and worked together but most of all they gossiped together. **

**The girls would probably be up half the night talking about all that had gone on during their summers. It used to bother Robin but she had gotten used to it by the end of her sophomore year. By now she had heard it all, she could even sleep through all the talk about sex with their various boyfriends or in some cases girlfriends.**

**That was something that took Robin a little while to get used to. Band attracted all kinds but mostly those who wanted to be part of a group and feel accepted. Robin could accept everything except what happened last year. Robin had ended up sleeping across from one of the guard who was dating another girl from one of the other bands. Robin had had to ignore them as they made out across from her. Robin spent a lot of time that year either in another dorm or sleeping with here head facing the wall. What happened at band camp stayed at band camp though, so Robin had dealt with it but she was a senior this year, she was not taking any of that crap.**

**As Robin started getting undressed for bed she also started listening to the conversation.**

"**Did you see him?!"**

"**Like, oh my gosh, I can't believe how hot he is."**

"**I can't wait until tomorrow."**

**That last one had to have been a freshman. Only a freshman would want to be on a field because of a guy. All the rest would rather be in bed because fundamentals started tomorrow and there would be nothing "fun" about it.**

**Robin was slipping her pajamas on when she heard someone say, "Did you see him staring at her?"**

"**Yah, he couldn't take his eyes off of her."**

"**Why is he interested in her? I mean she's pretty but not that pretty."**

"**I know, half of the guard on the field are half naked and he's staring at her."**

**Robin walked around the end of her bed as the girl was saying this when all of a sudden they all went very quiet. Have you ever had one of those moments when you know someone was talking about you but you have to check behind you to make sure there's no one there? Robin was very thankful she had because just as she did the instructor that watched over their dorm walked in. She told them lights out and Robin climbed into bed. Lights out wouldn't stop them from talking as soon as the instructor was out of sight but Robin bet they would change the subject. **

**She didn't care because she already knew what they were talking about and why Maria had randomly asked her if she liked Brandon. She saw where this was going and all Robin could do was put the pillow over her head and try to go to sleep. She would deal with it tomorrow. The band camp drama had begun and Robin was going to be in the middle of it! Robin just groaned into the bed as she fell asleep.**


End file.
